Harry Potter and the Horcruxes
by Link023
Summary: Harry Potter is going into his seventh and final year of Hogwarts. Without the physical help of Dumbledore, Harry must locate the rest of Lord Voldemort's horcruxes and destroy them while making sure no harm comes to any one else in the world.
1. Death Eaters Rejoice

Chapter 1:The Death Eaters Rejoice

It's three weeks after term at Hogwarts and Draco Malfoy and Severus Snape are sitting in Spinner's End awaiting a sign from the Dark Lord. Malfoy is pacing around the room, looking anxious about his first meeting with the Dark Lord since Dumbledore's death. It was Malfoy's duty to dispose of Dumbledore, but he wasn't do it.

"Like I told you earlier, I just couldn't do it. He was my headmaster and I froze up at the opportunity."

"But it was youir mission, your first mission, killing Dumbledore, and you couldn't even do it. How do you think the Dark Lord will take this?" Snape asked, looking furious. "No one has ever failed to complete one of the Dark Lord's missions, even your father finished his, mind you, it wasn't that difficult of a task. Even that dope Neville from the school could have done it."

"Are you saying my dad was worthless?" Malfoy asked, enraged, pulling out his wand and pointing it at Snape.

"Do you honestly think you can harm me? You couldn't even get rid of Dumbledore, and he had no wand!"

Malfoy was just about to respond to this when he suddenly gripped his left arm. There had been a serring pain near his shoulder and when he lifted up his robe sleeve, he saw that the Dark Mark etched into his skin had burned a violent shade of red. Malfoy looked over at Snape and saw that he too recieved a bit of a shock from his left arm, but other wise he seemed to not have noticed any thing. Snape had, however, stood up and walked over to Malfoy.  
"It is time," he said and , grabbing Malfoy under his right arm, thought distinctly about meeting with Voldemort, spun on the spot and was wisked away, Malfoy at his. When they opened their eyes, they saw Lord Voldemort in front of them and around twenty Death Eaters behind him.

"So," Voldemort said, addressing Malfoy. "You showed up. Never thought to run, did you?"

"No, sir," Malfoy said, though he looked terified at being face-to-face with the Dark Lord at last.

"You lie. I know yopu were dreading coming here. You failed to complete the task I set forth for you to assist me with, seeing as how you are a student at Dumbledore's school. He would have expected you least of Snape commiting the crime, but in the end, it was Snape who did it." He looked at Snape. "I thank you for that, Snape, and will be rewarding you beyond all others"  
Again, Voldemort turned his attention to Malfoy. "It has come to my attention that you had disarmed Dumbledore and had him at your mercy..."

"But he was talking and confusing me and saying that I was at his mercy and that..." Malfoy interupted.

"SILENCE, HOW DARE YOU INTERUPT ME!" Voldemort yelled angrily. "First you show up here after having someone else finish your task for you, but then you interrupt me, the Dark Lord, the Greatest Wizard this world has ever seen?"

"Actually..." Malfoy began.

"YES?" Voldemort said. "You weren't about to say 'Dumbledore was the Greatest Wizard this world has ever seen', were you?"

Malfoy looked down at the ground and muttered something that sounded to the surropunding crowd a lot like, "Well, he was." Voldemort had blown up at these words and pulled out his wand so fast you'd think it it reacted to his thoughts and not his movements. He pointed this at Malfioy and, without warning, cried, "Crucio!"

Malfoy was on the ground, wreathing in pain and agony. Snape looked over at Voldemort and asked him, "Are you sure this is a good idea, doing this here?" Snape said, putting an emphasis on the last word.

"No you're questioning me too?" Voldemort said, glaring at Snape.

"No, sir, I was merely expressing my concern that the Muggles of this village may over here Malfoy's cries and come to investigate further," Snape replied.

"The more the merrier, I say," a watching Death Eater said, and a few of them started to laugh. They stopped almost instantly for Voldemort had relinquished his curse upon Malfoy, who was laying on the ground, rolled uop into a ball.

"Exscuse me?" Voldemort said, sounding as though the idea wasn't worthy of him listening to.

"I was j-j-just s-saying that..." the Death Eater stammered.

"I know what you were saying!" Voldemort shouted, now advancing on the worrysome Death Eater. "You were saying that we could kill off more Muggles just for the fun of it. What were you thinking?

"This doesn't sound anything like you, sir"  
"I will not tolerate this insolence following me around," Voldemort said, turning his wand on to the lone Death Eater now. "Avada Kedavra!" There was a flash of green light and the Death Eater fell to the ground, as stiff as a floor board.

"You see what happens when you undermine Lord Voldemort"  
"Yes, sir!" the Death Eaters eyelled in unison.  
"The reason we are unable to continue in our enjoyable game of Muggle Hunting is because the Ministry is already looking for us for the last few- for lack of a better word- crimes we hav commited, and what with Dumbledore's recent death, any slight relation to the Dark Arts will cause an uproar in the Ministry and they will send out even more Aurors to find us, even if they have to use there less experienced ones. They will over-welm us and we can't afford to give them the chance. Some dreadful news has come to my attention and I realize I only hav four Horcruxes left."

"Sir, what are Horcruxes?" Bellatrix Lestrange asked.

"They are a most prized possesion of mine," Voldemort said. "I am sure you all remember the steps I took to become immortal. Well, I had been searching the world for any information I could about these Horcruxes. I found out that a powerful Dark Wizard, like myself, can split his soul in half and place a part of it into any object tjhey desire. I, unable to live with just two peices, split my soul into seven pieces. It has come to my attention that two of my remaining six Horcuxes have been destroyed. I now rely on my reamainig four."

"But if you made seven, and two were destroyed, how come only four reamin?" Bellatrix asked.

"It's simple, really." Voldemort said. "When i was first thwarted by Harry Potter 15 years ago, one of my horcruxes was used up in order to keep me alive, even if I was lees then human. So I guess you can say three have been destroyed, leaving four unfound."

"But what do these Horcruxes look like, anyway?" Snape asked.

"The first one i decided to use was my very own diary," Voldemort said. "I spent half of my sixth year trying to find out as much as I could about Horcruxes. I found out that in order to depart with half of your soul, you must have to kill someone first. I killed a muggle girl that year when I found and opened the Chamber of Secrets. It was then that I departed with half my soul, sealing it away into my diary. I trusted Lucius with this diary, to hang onto until I should need it, but he failed. Like father like son, eh Draco?"

Malfoy looked both enraged and scared at the sound of his name.

"Lucius, it seems, gave my diary to the Weasley girl who discovered what the diary really was. I tricked this girl into opening the Chamber and setting Slytherin's monster loose again, but unfortionately, it was destroyed by Potter before another death could occur. The next one was my grandfather's ring. This ring was passed down from generation to generation in the Guant family line. I went back to my grandfather's house while in my sixth year of schooling and framed my uncle for the murder of my father. I stole the ring and, having just killed my father, departed with half of my soul again. I don't know yet how this one was found or who destroyed it, I just knoew it was. The remaining Horcruxes are destributed widely around the world."

"But, sir, what are the reaminig Horcruxes?" Bellatrix asked, looking frightened at her own nerve.

"The others," Voldemort continued, "were really hard to come by. You see, I searched the world looking for any artifacts I could of the four founders of Hogwarts. I found only two in my wide searches, but it doesn't matter now. I found Salazar Slytherin's locket in Borgin and Burkes while working there some years after leaving school. I killed the first Muggle I could find, eager to make more Horcruxes. Then, while on a task set to me by Mr. Borgin, I found a goblet that belonged to Helga Hufflepuff. I killed the old lady who owned the goblet and framed her house-elf."

"What are the reamaining two, sir?" Snape asked this time.

"I used my pet snake, Nagini, as a Horcrux. She is the most reliable one beacause she only listens to me, and it has never been attempted, putting part of your soul into a living creature. No one would ever suspect it."

"And the last one, sir?" a Death Eater near Snape asked.

"I thought that one would be obvious, at least now that you know what Horcruxes are," Voldemort said. "The last Horcrux is in fact Harry Potter." 


	2. Unexpected Arrivals

Chapter 2: _Unexpected Arrivals_

"Harry!" Mr. Dursley yelled up the stairs one morning, aggrivated by the sudden apearances of two owls and two people. "Get down here at once and explain this...this...blatant disregard for one man's privacy"  
Harry Potter opened his bedroom door and walked down the stairs to see what the problem was. When he reached the living room, he saw two owls fluttering around the room waiting for him, each carrying a package for him. On closer inspection, however, Harry noticed that there were two people also waiting for him.  
"Ron! Hermione!. What are you doing here?" Harry said, with a mixture of of shock and excitment.  
"Precisely what I want to know," Uncle Vernon said, appearing in the living room purple-faced and temple throbbing.  
"Shut it, Dursley," Ron said, standing up. He had grown another two inches since the end of term and was considerably taller then Uncle Vernon, but that didn't stop Uncle Vernon from standing up to Ron. "What did you say?" Uncle Vernon exlaimed.  
"You heard me," Ron said, now pulling out his wand and advancing on Uncle Vernon.  
"Y-y-you're n-n-not allowed, outside of school," Uncle Vernon said, though backing into a wall and looking at the wand with apprehension.  
"I'm of age now, I can do as I feel," Ron said.  
"Ron!" Harry and Hermione said, Harry with admiration and Hermione with hesatation.  
"I;m only joking," Ron said, lowering his wand. "I would never jinx the Dursley's without Harry's permission"  
"Right,' Harry said, looking away from Ron. "So what are you guys doing here, anyway?" he asked Hermione. "Can't go three days without seeing me"  
"Yeah, that's it," said Ron sarcastically. "We wanted to bring Hagrid along with us beacause he was crying his eyes out over you and"  
"That's enough, Ronald," Hermione said, a note of laughter in her voice. "We've come to take you back to headquarters, and your new home. We figured since you'll be seventeen soon, we can go make your home even better with magic. I've been reading books on Magical Home Decorating and there is a charm in there that will let us put a permanent cover over that dreadful portrait of Sirius' mother. And we can make it bit more colorful and look like a non-Dark Wizard lives there. And don't worry," she said, looking at Harry eagerly, "Professor McGonnagal made me the Secret Keeper, so there's no way anyone will get in there without you or me knowing.. Is that okay?" she said, looking at the puzzled expression on Harry's face.  
"What if an accomplished Legilimens like, lets say, Lord Voldemort, tries to get the Secret out of you? What then"  
"Well, of course, Professor McGonnagal and I thought ofn that so she's been giving me Occlumency lessons. And I'm expecting you and Ron to start sometime during the school year"  
"But I've already told you I'm not going back to school. I'm going out to find Voldemort's horcruxes"  
"You still need to finish school, though. And besides, you can find information at Hogwarts, I'm sure of it"  
Just then there was a soft hooting noise that made Harry jump. He forgot there were two owlsther as well. "And what are they doing here?" Harry asked, gesturing towards the owls.  
"Well, one of them has your letter from Hogwarts about the books you will need and the other, by the looks of it, is a book"  
Harry went over to the owls, pulled of the letter and book, then watchedas the owls took of out the living room window. Harry opened up the letter, expectring to see the usual message about catching the Hogwarts Exprress, but this message was accompanied by another. It read:

_Due to their age, Seventh years at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry have two options to get to school. They can take the Hogwarts Express from Pltform 9 3/4 at 11:00am at King's Cross Station, or they can, if they have past their tests, Apparate to Hogsmede Station at 8:00pm, just in time to tAke the carages leading up to Hogwarts. Term begins September 1st.  
_

_Professor M. McAGonnagal _

_Headmistress_

Harry finished reading the letter then looked at th others."So you guys Apparated here?" he said. "And you're going to Apparate to Hogwarts? What am I to do alone on the train"  
"Don't be silly," Hermione said. "If Ron can pass his test, you can pass yours"  
"And what's that supposed to mean"  
"Nothing," said Hermione rather quickly. "Anyway, you've Apparated before any other Sixth year"  
"But I had Dumbledore's..." Harry stopped. Thinking about Dumbledore hurt him.  
"Harry, I know how you must be feeling..." Hermione began.  
"NO YOU DON'T!" Harry shouted. "NOBODY KNOWS HOW I'M FEELING" Harry didn't know why he was shouting, but as suddenly as he started shouting, he stopped. "Nobody knows what it was like, standing up there. Dumbledore was defensless, and i was up there, watching the whole thing. Dumbledore immobilized and was immidiately disarmed. I could've helped him. Instead, I had to watch as the greatest wizard ever beg for his life. It was the worst thing I have ever had had to witness. And do you know who killed him? IT WAS SNAPE"  
"Harry, we know this. You told us at the end of the term," Ron said.  
"Yeah, Harry, we know whta Snape was like long before what happened. But that doesn't change what happened. So instead of moarning ovewr Dumbledore's death, why don't you go out there and avenge him by finding Voldemort's Horcruxes. And the best place to start is Hogwarts"  
"You know, you're right," Harry said, finally settling down. "If Voldemort was able to find out about Horcruxes at Hogwarts, we should be able to as well, right? Anyway, did either of you get a book"  
"No," Ron and Hermione said.  
"I wonder why I did, then," harry said now taking up the wrapped book and opening it. A sky blue book, almost the size of side table, fell onto the floor with a dull _clunk_. Harry picked up the book, turned it over, and read the title on the front. "_Occlumens and Legilimens; Mastering the Mind_. Never heard of it"  
"Who's the author," Hermione asked withthe same look in her eyes that she has everytime she sees a new book.  
"Hang on, I'll check." Harry opened the front cover and immidiately dropped the book again. "I don't beleive it," he said.  
"What?" Ron asked.  
"Who's the author?" Hermione asked.  
"_Albus Dumbledore_."  
"Are you _serious_?" Ron asked, looking slightly confused.  
"Yeah, it says right here. And there's even a note fom Dumbledore in here. It looks like he rushed the writing."  
"Well read it," Hermione said.  
"It says:  
_Dear Harry,  
The book you hold in your hands was written byme specifically for you. I understand that your Occlumency lessons with Professor Snape were kind of awfull soI wrote this to assist you and you closest friends in the near future  
My thoughts about you have grown clear over these last six years.I have watched you stop at nothing to save your friends and those you love, even if it means risking your life in the process. ButI must ask you not to do that in your next year here. You must be safe, at least until you have found the Horcruxes and destroyed them. I will not be around to help you much longer, so heed my words now. You must retake Occlumensagain and start taking Legilimens. It is better to take these as soon as posible so you can find out as much as possible about the Horcruxes. As i have said, I won't be around much longer to assist you_ physically_ but you will still find any help you need in Headmistress McGonnagal's office should you need__it.  
It was an honor to know you and to teach you these last six years and I hope that this book will guide you safely through your final year at Hogwarts._

_Albus Dumbledore  
post-datedMay 31st_

"So Dumbledore knew he was going to die this year," Harry said.  
"Seems likeit," Ron said.  
"So Dumbledore can still help us, even in death," Hermione said. "But How?  
"This letter saysthat we can find help in McGonnagal'sOffice if we ever need it," Harry said. "I got it. We can talk to his portrait. All of the old Headmasters and Headmistresses have portraits hanging in the Headmasters office."  
"That's brilliant," Hermione said. She glanced at the clock and immidiately looked anxious. "We've gotta get back. TheShower is about to start."  
"You're right," Ron said. "Quick, Harry, go get your stuff."  
Harry returned five minutes later with his trunk packedwith all of his belongings. "So where are we going, GrimualdPlace?"  
"No, we're gouing back to the Burrow. It's Bill and Fleur's wedding shower. TheWedding is next week," Ron said.  
"How are we getting there?" Harry asked.  
"Well, I only have enough Floo Powder for one person soI'll take the trunk and meet you back at the Burrow," Ron said.  
"And you're going to Dissapparate with me, Harry," Hermione said.  
Hermione pulled out her wand, walked over to the fireplace, bent down and lit a fire in the grate. Harry and Hermione helped Ron put the trunk into the flames before he stepped in, dropped theFloo Powder in the fire, shouted "_The Burrow!_" and disapeared in a wisp of flames. Hermione then grabbed Harry's arm tightly and looked at him. "Remember how to do this?" she asked. Harry nodded and they both turned abrubtly on the spot. Harry felt that familiar sensation like he was being sucked through a small pipe. Then suddenly as they started, Harry and Hermione hit level ground. Harry was back at the Burrow.


End file.
